Paint ball gun driven by linear motor

ABSTRACT

A paint ball gun includes a barrel connected with a handle and a drop hole and an aperture are defined through a wall of the barrel. Paint balls can be supplied into the barrel via the drop hole. A linear motor is located in the barrel and drives a retractable driving rod which is connected to a push unit located in the barrel. An inlet is defined through a wall of the push unit and the inlet is moved with the push unit between a first position and a second position, the inlet is moved to the first position where the aperture is sealed and the paint ball enters the barrel. When the inlet is moved to the second position, the inlet is in communication with the aperture so that the paint ball is pushed by pressurized air introduced into the barrel via the aperture and the inlet.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(1) Field of the Invention

This application is a Continuation-In-Part of prior application Ser. No. 12/076,560 filed Mar. 20, 2008, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

(2) Description of the Prior Art

A conventional paint ball gun is shown in FIG. 1 and generally includes handle 11 with a barrel 12 connected thereto which is composed of a bore 121 and a chamber 122 which is located parallel to the bore 121. The chamber 122 includes a valve 13 located close to the front end thereof and a piston 131 and a first spring 132 are installed in the chamber 122 in sequence. A link 14 and a second spring 141 are located at the rear end of the chamber 122. An aperture 123 is defined through a wall of the bore 121 and communicates with the chamber 122. A fixture 15 is connected to the barrel and communicates with the chamber 122 so as to be connected with the pressurized air source which provides pressurized air into the chamber 122. A cocking handle 16 extends from the link 14 and protrudes out from the side of the chamber 133 so that when the user pulls the cocking handle 16, the link 14 is pulled backward and a push unit 18 in the bore 121 is pulled backward.

When pulling the trigger 19, the link 14 moves toward the valve 13 and the push unit 18 is moved backward. The pressurized air enters into the space 181 in the push unit 18 via the aperture 123 to push the paint ball 20 in the bore 121. The paint ball 20 spins along the rifling grooves 182 and moves forward and goes out from the barrel 12 at high speed. However, the conventional barrel has to be made to include parallel bore 121 and chamber 122, this makes the conventional barrel to be bulky and the related parts are complicated. The size and the complicated mechanism increase the manufacturing cost.

The present invention intends to provide a paint ball gun which includes a linear motor located in the bore so that the barrel can be made simple and compact.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a paint ball gun and comprises a barrel connected with a handle and a drop hole and an aperture are defined through a wall of the barrel. The drop hole allows paint balls to drop into the barrel and the aperture introduces pressurized air into the barrel. A linear motor is located in the barrel and drives a retractable driving rod which is connected with a push unit located in the barrel. The push unit includes an inlet defined through a wall thereof and the inlet is moved with the push unit between a first position and a second position. The inlet is moved away from the aperture at the first position and in communication with the aperture at the second position.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a paint ball gun that uses a linear motor to drive the push unit so that the barrel is slim and involves a simple structure.

The present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings which show, for purposes of illustration only, a preferred embodiment in accordance with the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a partial cross sectional view of a conventional paint ball gun;

FIG. 2 is a partial cross sectional view of the paint ball gun of the present invention, wherein the paint ball shoots out by the push unit, and

FIG. 3 is a partial cross sectional view of the paint ball gun of the present invention, wherein the push unit is pulled backward and another paint ball enters into the barrel.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the paint ball gun of the present invention comprises a barrel 2 connected with a handle and a trigger unit (not shown) is connected to the handle. A drop hole 21 and an aperture 22 are defined through a wall of the barrel 2. The drop hole 21 is connected with a tube and a hopper so that paint balls 7 drop into the barrel 2 and the aperture 22 is connected with a hose 51 which is connected to a pressurized air bottle 5. The pressurized air bottle 5 further includes a regulation device 6 which regulates the pressure of the pressurized air before being introduced into the barrel 2.

A linear motor 3 is located in the barrel 2 and drives a retractable driving rod 31. A push unit 4 is located in the barrel 2 and the driving rod 31 is connected to the push unit 4. The push unit 4 includes a body 41, a chamber 42 and a push end 43 which communicates with the chamber 42. The body 41 is connected with the driving rod 31. An inlet 421 is defined through a wall of the push unit 4.

The inlet 421 is moved with the push unit 4 between a first position and a second position, wherein the inlet 421 is moved away from the aperture 22 at the first position as shown in FIG. 2, and communicates with the aperture 22 at the second position as shown in FIG. 3. Two O-rings 421 are engaged with an inner periphery of the barrel 2 and the aperture 22 is located between the two O-rings 421.

As shown in FIG. 2, when the linear motor 3 retracts the driving rod 31 backward, the aperture 22 is sealed by the push unit 4, and the drop hole 21 is opened so that one paint ball 7 enters into the barrel 2. It is to be noted that the linear motor 3 is activated by pulling the trigger unit. More specifically, when the trigger unit is pulled by the user, the linear motor 3 is activated to drive the driving rod 31 forward and backward in a short period of time. In other words, single pull of the trigger unit controls the driving rod 31 to move forward and then backward to make a cycle, in which the driving rod 31 is driven by the linear motor 3. As shown in FIG. 3, when the user pulls the trigger unit, the linear motor 3 pushes the driving rod 31 first and the push unit 4 pushes the paint ball 7 and the inlet 421 is moved to be in communication with the aperture 22 so that pressurized air enters the chamber 42 and sends the paint ball 7 out from the barrel 2 at high speed. At the same time, the push unit 4 seals the drop hole 21 when the previous paint ball 7 in the barrel 2 is shot. After the paint ball 7 is shoot, the push unit 4 is then pulled backward by the driving rod 31 which is driven by the linear motor 3, thus the next paint ball 7 enters into the barrel 2 for the next shoot as shown in FIG. 2.

In addition, a circuit board or the like could be installed on the paint ball gun to further control the moving cycle of the linear motor. One moving cycle of the linear motor is to drive the push rod forth and then to pull the push rod backward. In one preferred embodiment, a signal is sent to the circuit board when the trigger unit is pulled, then the circuit board further controls how many moving cycles the linear motor should make. For example, the circuit board is set (by the user) to activate the linear motor to make one moving cycle, i.e. a paint ball is shoot, while the trigger unit is pulled. Or the circuit board is set to activate the linear motor to make more than one moving cycle to shoot more than one paint ball on one pull of trigger unit.

While we have shown and described the embodiment in accordance with the present invention, it should be clear to those skilled in the art that further embodiments may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. 

1. A paint ball gun comprising: a barrel connected with a handle and a drop hole and an aperture defined through a wall of the barrel, the drop hole adapted to allow paint balls to drop into the barrel and the aperture adapted to introduce pressurized air into the barrel; a linear motor located in the barrel and driving a retractable driving rod, and a push unit located in the barrel and the driving rod connected to the push unit, an inlet defined through a wall of the push unit and the inlet being moved with the push unit between a first position and a second position, the inlet moved away from the aperture at the first position and being in communication with the aperture at the second position.
 2. The paint ball gun as claimed in claim 1, wherein the push unit includes a body, a chamber and a push end which communicates with the chamber, the body is connected with the driving rod, the inlet communicates with the chamber.
 3. The paint ball gun as claimed in claim 1, wherein two O-rings are engaged with an inner periphery of the barrel and the aperture is located between the two O-rings.
 4. The paint ball gun as claimed in claim 1, wherein a hose is engaged with the aperture and a pressurized air bottle is connected with the hose.
 5. The paint ball gun as claimed in claim 1, wherein a trigger unit is connected to the handle, the trigger unit controls the linear motor to drive the driving rod to move frontward and then backward on one pull. 